THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 26, 1994 TAG: 9406240211
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JEFF HOOTEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940626 LENGTH: Medium
He likes the schools, the atmosphere and the people.
{REST} But he hates the traffic.
``The congestion in Deep Creek is horrendous,'' Scott said.
``We have traffic right now in Deep Creek every night that we haven't had since Fats Domino played at Sunset Lake Park. The night he played, everything was stopped.''
Scott was one of several residents who showed up at Tuesday's City Council meeting to oppose New Mill Estates, a proposed 200-plus unit residential development off Cedar Road near the intersection with Dominion Boulevard. The council voted, 4-2, in favor of rezoning 174 acres for the project, which set aside 35 acres for a future school site.
Councilmen Peter P. Duda Jr. and Alan P. Krasnoff opposed the rezoning. While both councilmen said the project was worthwhile, they agreed that ``the timing isn't right.''
Krasnoff said he was concerned about the added pressures the development would put on Cedar Road.
``Why is it that we have to get overcrowded before we build a school?'' Duda asked. ``We're always trying to play catch-up.''
Tuesday's vote was the second time around for this parcel of land. The Planning Commission and the City Council rejected a higher-density project two years ago.
The developer, Deep Creek Real Estate Investment Trust, had agreed since then to meet Planning Commission requests for park space, a restricted construction schedule and $1,876 per lot for school construction and improvements. The developer also agreed to make improvements to Cedar Road, including turn lanes and a wider entrance to the subdivision.
The changes succeeded in winning over the Planning Commission and a majority of the City Council.
Planning Commission Chairman Richard Pippin Jr. said the project would provide property for a school and a park at no cost to the city.
``This project has satisfied all the requirements that the city has set, so how can the city say no?'' he asked.
Council members Arthur L. Dwyer and Sherry M. Simmons acknowledged that improving area roads was the council's problem, not the developer's, and that the council would soon address the situation.
Dwyer said he would rather support a project that met the city's standards than sit by and watch other developments go up without the council's control.
Opponents of the rezoning were tougher to convince. They told the council that new housing construction - combined with the lack of money budgeted for road improvements - would create a traffic nightmare.
``We're going to be hostages in Great Bridge. We'll never be able to get out,'' complained Paul Brandt, who travels to work on Cedar Road.
``I'm a battalion chief for the Chesapeake fire department, and I worry about the ability for us to get our emergency vehicles down Cedar Road,'' Brandt said.
``The road is only 16 feet wide, there's no shoulder, and there's no place for people to pull off out of our way because there are big ditches on both sides. And if they add a lot of traffic, it's got to slow down our response time.''
``If you can't get there in 5 or 6 minutes, you may be too late.''
Opponents also pointed out that additional homes would further burden Chesapeake's already-taxed water supply.
``If you put over 200 houses and a school in there, how are you going to flush the commode?'' Scott asked.
by CNB